Walt Disney World has unveiled their welcome back video ahead of this weekend’s official reopening. It’s hard to believe, but the Orlando Florida theme park, along with the Anaheim, California location, have been closed since the middle of March. Theme parks across America have all been shut down, due to the world’s current state of affairs, but things are starting to reopen again, though many argue that this is happening way too fast.
The new 1-minute TV spot from Walt Disney World showcases the empty park before featuring workers cleaning everything while wearing masks and other PPE. Disney wants everybody to know that they have been preparing to get the park up to the latest safety regulations and that is what this welcome back video is all about. The video teases nostalgia and merchandise, including some Baby Yodas to get people back in the right mindset of returning to a crowded theme park. However, will this video be enough to get people to Disney World this weekend?
Walt Disney World is set to officially open its doors on July 11th. The timing couldn’t be worse for Florida in terms of case spikes, but Governor Ron DeSantis is confident that Disney is doing the right thing at this moment in time. “Disney, I have no doubt is going to be a safe environment,” he said. “I think that where you start to see the spread is just in social situations where people let their guard down. Usually like a private party or something like that.” Walt Disney World will not be operating at full capacity over the next few months.
A large portion of the Walt Disney World Resort will partially reopen this weekend. The Magic Kingdom Park and Disney’s Animal Kingdom Theme Park will be open with limited capacity, followed by the July 15th opening of EPCOT and Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Guests will have their temperatures checked and will be required to wear masks at all times while inside the park. Guests will also have to practice social distancing at the same time. It is unclear how they will enforce these rules, but the Disney Springs area, which reopened at the end of May, started to use cast members dressed as Star Wars First Order Stormtroopers to keep everybody on their toes.
It may take a lot more than some Stormtroopers to get guests to wear masks and keep them on once inside Walt Disney World. As for Disneyland, they originally had plans to reopen later in July, but those plans were later canceled. For now, it is unclear when the Anaheim, California park will open, but they are trying to get their employees back to work, while figuring out the safety precautions at the same time. For now, all eyes will be on Walt Disney World as the reopen this weekend. You can check out the welcome back video above, thanks to the Disney Parks YouTube channel.
